After a gloomy weekend the riders finally got to ride in relatively calm weather. The northern light has shown its beauty to most of the riders who could take a glimpse when they were pushing into the dark. The freezing temperature has hit most of the riders moving in the front pack: the lowest temperature reported by a rider goes as low as -3°C and many riders have seen frost covering their bike and tent or bivy after waking up from a short sleep.  

Sirkiä’s frozen dry bag early in the morning

In addition, today is sort of a “hiking day” for people at the front, as they passed through CP2 Taivaskero. Taivaskero is a summit in Pallas – Yllästunturi National Park where the olympic flame was lit by the midnight sun for the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics. In order to reach the checkpoint, the riders will have to carry their bike for about 700m over the rocky surface of the summit, and this might be tricky for people riding with a heavy load. Until the night, a grand total of six riders have reached CP2, well done!

Tahkola at CP2 Taivaskero

Back to the rest of the group, the route has diverged when riders pass through Oulu, where most of the riders choose to go further west to ride along either sides of the Finnish-Swedish border. Rest of them goe slightly towards east, where they will pass through Rovaniemi, the final big city on their journey in Finland. All of the resources will become less abundant further north, and there might be stretches up to 100km where no resupply might be found. 

Tomorrow we could be hoping for more riders reaching CP2, while the front riders will finally reach CP3, where the major diversion of the route will take place – either through Sweden or Norway.

Tiistaina 17.9. klo 18 on luvassa Velogin ja Arto Vallivirran livelähetys Ruskan seurannasta YouTubessa. Chatin kautta voi osallistua keskusteluun ja esittää kysymyksiä.

– Yue